


anesthesia (on indefinite hiatus)

by habitual



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff with a little Angst, M/M, but all the surgeons are, its going somewhere i swear, the nurses aren't from seventeen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-09 16:56:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7809895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/habitual/pseuds/habitual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"minghao, i'm medullary thyroid carcinoma and you're pheochromocytoma. we're MEN2B!"<br/>"hey, mingyu? shut the fuck up and give me a clamp."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. its elementary, watson.

minghao was terrified.

not because he had too much work to do, that was never really the case. he always was calm and serene when surrounded by patients, he worked best under immense amounts of stress and pressure. 

but because there was not a single patient in the emergency room.

this didn't really happen too often. most of the time they had a lull in the activity around 10 am, specifically on tuesdays and thursdays. but there had never been a day since he was a surgeon at the hospital that there was an empty er.

"pardon my language, but where the fuck are the patients?" he whispered to the nurse at the station, leaning on the desk and patiently waiting for an answer.

"i mean, we had a few in like an hour ago. i guess it's just a lull. what can i tell you?" jieqiong replied with a light shrug, going back to filling out the forms that were waiting for her on the desk. she was disturbed, however, by a certain chinese boy now sitting promptly on top of the desk.

"amuse me."

"i'm not here for your amusement, and i've got shit to do minghao. go check on your patients or something. bug the new resident. anything." jieqiong said, glaring a hole into the side of the elder's head. she really didn't have time for his shit, and there was no way in hell that he was going to leave anytime soon without a patient in a bed that was heading towards a ct.

"fine, i'll go check them. but if one of them starts crying i might have to come back. are you sure there are no new patients for me?"

"absolutely positive."

and with that, minghao was off to search for the patients in his ward. he dealt with children, a pediatric surgeon simply because of his small slender fingers. it was easier to work on kids when you had tiny hands, and he was blessed with quite baby-esque hands (thanks mom) to work with. the only problem that he found in his career was the particularly bratty kids, there was always one, that asked every question under the sun. (sometimes, he didn't even know how to answer. what seven year old knows what a tracheotomy is, and why is he asking it if the issue is with his stomach?) minghao avoided those kids with his life, and if there was anything he hated more than those kids, it was their parents. the naggy, worried, sobbing parents. god, they were the worst. they just cried and cried, sobbed about how their "little boy was so hurt" and how their kid was "going to die." (these made him the most angry, seeing as that was basically them dissing his surgeon skills.) but unfortunately for him, half the floor this week was these kinds of patients. 

as soon as he approached the pediatric nurses station, almost every nurse that was idle hounded him with questions and post op results and commentary from parents. the boy was used to it, all these nurses trying to get reassurance for the parents, for the kids, for themselves even sometimes. but god, were there even more than normal today. and so he just stayed silent, grabbing his rounds and walking towards the first room.

"my name's mingyu, i'll be your surgeon!" was the first thing he heard when he entered room 210. and the only thing that registered was "surgeon."

"i'm sorry to interrupt your debrief, but can we chat in the hallway mr, um, what's your name?" minghao abruptly interrupted, boring holes into the obviously taller doctor that was sitting by the bed. the child was maybe 14, so he probably understood what was happening, but either way he really didn't care. (neither did the kid. obviously, all he wanted to do was go home and go to sleep. but these two god damn surgeons would probably keep him up for hours, unfortunately.)

"oh! i'm mingyu. i'm assuming you're minghao? yeah, we can go to the hall!"

god, was this boy way too enthusiastic.

after years of working in the pediatric field, you would think that minghao would be at least a little more peppy than he was in his teens. but the opposite of that had happened, he was more serious, less upbeat and peppy, and certainly less accepting of mistakes.

"who do you think you are trying to steal my pediatric patients?"

"i didn't steal a single patient. i was assigned to him, i'm the new fellow in cardio."

"new fellow? cardio? did no one inform me of this?" minghao generalized the question to the nurses around him, and a brave one stepped forwards.

"actually, i told you about him like, two minutes ago. you were just zoned out as per usual." minghao read the nametag of the speaker as jine, but he wasn't quite sure if that was just an abbreviation for the kids, or what.

"so this kid is gonna take my surgeries? who said he could do that?" the pitch of his voice stayed mellow, however the speed of his words became faster and less korean-esque as he spoke, obviously getting irritated with the news.

"the head of cardio said it, don't take your anger out on the poor nurses." mingyu intervened, glancing down at the (quite) shorter boy. 

"fine. you can take this one. but i'm sitting in on the surgery, in case you don't know how to handle kids. i've seen it happen with the best of surgeons, half of you don't know what a tiny liver looks like."

and with that minghao walked away from the situation, mumbling to himself in chinese as he walked to the next child, only glancing back as mingyu was entering the door to his previous patient's room.

* * *

 

if you're a pediatric surgeon, you generally get terrified when you get a page from the er. some kid is in danger, a child is hurt, or their parent is on life support and you need to calm the kid down. all of these things are obviously not the best case scenario. 

but minghao? he kept his cool when the pager rang 3 times, from three different people. he stayed calm as he sprinted down stairs, pushed nurses out of the way, and barreled through empty hospital beds. he knew that if he got there fast enough, he could save lives. and panicking did not help save lives. however, it probably would have been helpful to read the pager before he ran. maybe then, he could sprinted even harder.

what was in the er, exactly one hour after he left it, was chaos. absolute child chaos. there were kids everywhere, nurses panicking between who needed more help, all of them trying to page every doctor in the place. and jieqiong, (he could call her the princess in shining armor, but he's pretty sure she'd prefer knight.) standing in the middle of the chaos, directing people different places.

"how are there this many kids? what was it, a schoolbus crash?"

"kindergarten bus crash, actually. a pretty bad one. there are three kids that have poles stuck through their abdomens that are already being shipped up to general, and there are two going to neuro for head trauma. multiple concussions, multiple fractures and broken bones. you can choose where you want to head first, seeing as you're the only pediatric on staff right now, and the rest are driving in as we speak."

"the one time i don't want to be right, i am." minghao mumbles in chinese under his breath, to which jieqiong muffles a laugh at. he shoots her dagger eyes and she shuts up, but he can admit that he almost laughed at himself too. "god damn it, i'll take one of the kids with the poles. who has it the worst?"

"jung kai. he's 5, and booked for or 3. his may have punctured the spinal chord, so neuro needs to get in quickly after."

as soon as the sentence is finished, minghao is booking it up the stairs once again. he's steps, maybe feet away from the operating room doors, when he pummels straight into a tall, brick like man, and falls directly to the ground.

"you fucking idiot! i have a bus full of kindergartners and you cant move out of my god damn way!" and the profanities continue as minghao rolls onto his side, getting up as fast as possible and stopping for a moment to regain focus. when he did, it was kind of shocking to see mingyu on the ground, eyes wide and head tilted at the chinese boy above him.

"did you just swear at me about children?" mingyu questioned, pushing himself off the ground and looking down at the other.

"yes. now i have to go pull a pole out of one, if you could excuse me." he pushed through the doors, taking his coat off immediately and changing into scrubs as quickly as possible, wanting to save a life tonight, not cause one to be in shambles. scrubbing his arms with a brisk pace and washing them even faster, he secured latex gloves onto his hands and entered the operating room, eyeing the patient with a weary glance.

"well, let's get this kid-kabob de-sticked, shall we?"


	2. neurological feats (and just normal feet, too)

in minghao's eyes, there wasn't much that went into saving kids.

  1. you save the kid's illness.
  2. you save the kid from the doting parents.
  3. you save the kid's ego from being too hurt.



but to everyone else that worked with him, it was "much more" than that. there was liver damage and irreparable lungs, and fractured spleens and ugly stitches from surgeries ago and everything they could possibly think of. (really. minghao was sick of them talking about everything that could go wrong. kids recover, apparently that's not something they had learned yet.) and then there were the nurses that would question why some kid was recovering so quickly, and another wasn't. as if they hadn't ever attended medical school, and they never learned about how kids work. but he got over it, in most situations.

the only time he really couldn't get over it, was when a certain obnoxious cardio surgeon came into his or while he was trying to take a pole out of a child's spleen.

"hey, minghao was it? can you come glance at this kid's chest, i think he might have had previous surgeries that were not listed on his patient profile. the heart doesn't seem to be normal." was the question that immediately came out of the large ~~idiot~~ man's mouth. mingyu didn't really care for waiting, and hence, didn't wait at all for minghao to register that he was in the room before spurting out said question. (it pissed off minghao. a lot of things pissed off minghao, however.)

with a sigh, minghao turned his head slightly to address the man standing by the doorway of his or. "who, on god's green fucking earth, told you that you could come into my operating room, to ask me about a god damn heart? does it not look like i'm busy in the slightest? you know, possibly pulling a fucking pole out of some kid? i'm busy. go get another cardio resident to look at it, because they seem to be a hell of a lot smarter than you are."

it was the last sentence that baffled mingyu. another resident that's smarter than him? he was pretty smart, that was one thing. he really did put his whole being into studying for every test, and he got through his internship and residency with flying colors. so how on earth was some measly resident going to be smarter than he was?

but he called one anyways. the resident's name was jooheon, one that seemed to work well with children and cardio, so he phoned him to the operating room immediately. 

"so you've got a child's heart that you don't really know what to do with? pretty typical. i bet minghao yelled at you for this one." jooheon said, stepping into the or and smacking his latex gloves over his arms. it took more steps to get to the table than it would take mingyu (jooheon wasn't the tallest of people. at least he was quick.) before he laughed into his elbow. "are you serious? this is just a kid with a previous pacemaker issue that got it taken out. theres two small stitches. that's it. the heart is fine to go, the stitches are old."

and with that the resident left again, leaving a confused and embarrassed mingyu to continue his surgery, all the while hearing light snickers from his nurses.

* * *

before he knew it, jieqiong was on minghao's back, latching onto his shoulders with (too much) ease. "yah, hao. did you hear about what the big puppy did in the operating room? he thought this kid had a serious heart issue, when it was just two stitches from a pace maker! i can't believe the quality of these new surgeons coming in, they all suck!"

minghao stifled a laugh, biting his lips together as he found a seat in the cafeteria, placing down his tray of food and attempting to place down the girl on his back, as well. "yeah, he tried to get me out of my operating room to come look at it. a fucking resident found that faster than he did? jesus christ, he's more stupid than i thought."

with a soft thud on the ground, his back was much lighter, and his best friend (and probably only, if we're being honest) was sitting next to him at the table. "well, either way, he did save that kid. put in a new pace maker, because the accident caused another irregular pattern. when i told the parents, they were so angry at the other hospital for taking it out, i had to sit them down and calm them down for half a fucking hour. like, god. can you believe parents these days?"

and yet again, minghao found himself concealing a chuckle at the statement, knowing all too well how terrible parents were. "mmhm. they all fucking suck and get in our way constantly. they page me for even the slightest sign of a cough, and endanger other kids for their "precious pumpkins." trust me jie jie, i am well aware of these fucked up people that call themselves parents."

a new voice entered the conversation, stemming from directly behind minghao in a sweet, upbeat tone. "okay, but do you deal with the infants? especially in neonatal, all the parents want to do is pick up and hold their child but they physically cannot. like, someone tried to break a glove once! they tried to snip through the fabric!" 

"um, xuannie? yeah, we know that your parents are bitchy. but even the pediatric patients are bitches sometimes. once, a kid threw his mashed potatoes at minghao's head for telling him he would have to stay an extra day."

there was a pause in conversation, and when minghao glanced over at xuan yi, her face was in a pondering expression. "so what your telling me, is you got the short end of the stick. wow. must suck to be xu minghao!" the tone in her voice was slightly sarcastic, immediately shoving a spoon of rice in her mouth after she spoke, scrunching her nose up at jieqiong's expression at her chubby cheeks. in response, jieqiong poked the other's nose, smiling before going back to her own soup that she had been previously spooning into her own mouth.

"god damn it, do i owe xiao xiao ten dollars or not?" minghao exlaimed, slamming down his chopsticks with a sense of aggression.

"i heard my name. who's giving me money?" the girl in question entered the conversation, sitting across from minghao, hands folded in front of her tray of food. "oh, are they together yet? i do expect my ten bucks as quick as possible." 

xuan yi's eyes widened, glancing between the two before looking at jieqiong, who was laughing downwards at her food. "we're not dating! you guys made a bet on us?"

the only male's eyes shifted between the two, a shrug rolling off his shoulders. "not exactly. my bet was on hyejin and jie jie. her bet was on jie jie and xuannie. so, it wasn't exactly a bet on both of you, but rather who jie jie would go with." he explained calmly, drinking his tea.

it was then that jieqiong perked her head up, glaring at the two next to her. "you fuckers made a bet on who the fuck i would date? i don't date, you dickbags. i'm leaving, maybe you two will learn that some of us don't have time for that petty shit at some point in the near future." and with that she stood up, pushing her empty tray into the cleaning station and angrily walking towards her station.

"aw, poor xuannie. you love her, don't you?"

"me? no way!" her voice peaked at the no, cracking a little bit before she gloomily looked at her tray. "i don't!"

"okay, sure you don't. i have surgeries to get to, maybe you two can discuss your feelings for a while before convincing her to not confess and to let me win this money." minghao stood, eyeing the two of them before heading towards the pediatric ward

* * *

all minghao wanted to do was take a nap. he just needed to take a nap so that he would be fully awake for all his late night surgeries, he just wanted to sleep a little bit, even if people say that doctors never get sleep.

of course, he couldn't.

he was drowsy and sleepy when he heard the door slam shut, and a figure fall onto the bed right behind where he was curled up against the wall. and then, because he was minghao and nothing could ever go his fucking way, the man didn't bother to move.

"hey." minghao stated in a raspy, groggy, half slept in voice. he couldn't be bothered to turn and address the person directly, so that statement was his best bet in trying to get their attention.

"oh! i didn't know someone was in this bed," there was a pause, and he felt the weight shift on the small bed, a shift in the way the sheets were arranged around his small frame. "minghao? you were so curled up, i couldn't even see you. well, this is perfect! i needed to talk to you anyways!" and with that, the sheets were lifted, a light gust of cold air hit the back of minghao's neck, and then he could feel mingyu's frame directly behind his own. "so, why were you so mean to me in the operating room? i just wanted to ask a question, you know! i feel like questions are totally needed for doctors to grow and develop, right? so why are you so against my questioning? i just want to-"

"shut the fuck up and get your own god damn bed, you giant fucking dumbass untrained puppy." he practically growled, glaring at the wall in front of his face, because yet again, he was lazy, and far too tired to address the other directly.

"w-what? giant untrained puppy?"

"there were some curse words inbetween there, but you got the gist of it. now move."

"i'm not an untrained puppy! i'm really good at what i do!" 

"are surgeons that are really good at what they do also surgeons that don't know what a removed pacemaker looks like?" minghao questioned, now turning on his other side to be face to face with mingyu. (a little too close for comfort, in his case. minghao hated people in his personal bubble.)

there was a slight lull in the conversation, while mingyu thought about his response. instead of responding, the only response he gave the other was envaloping the smaller in a practically bone crushing hug, and muffling minghao's string of curse words with his own chest. "i get it now! you're just mean because no one ever hugs you! and you hate people!"

_i mean, there is some truth in that._ minghao thought, rolling his eyes and kicking the other away. "no, i'm not mean because i hate people. i don't hate people, i have tons of friends. i just hate you, now leave my bed and let me sleep in peace."

thankfully, by now, mingyu realized the evident bags under the other's eyes, and the way that he was about to doze off every time he wasn't talking. "fine, i'll go in another bed. but just know that you will be nice to me one day! everyone is!"

_as if_ , minghao thought, drifting into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

when minghao awoke, it was to the obnoxious sound of his phone, blaring the ringtone he had set for seungcheol, right next to his ear.

he answered the phonecall with a groan, lying the receiver on the side of his head that wasn't still buried in the pillow. "what."

"guess what i did minghao!! guess!!" was the excited tone he heard from the elder male, and from the way he spoke, minghao guessed that he was probably hopping around in excitement at this exact moment.

"how the fuck am i supposed to guess. you do shit all the fucking time. i have no clue."

"just guess!!"

"asked out that girl you've had a crush on for 3 years? got laid for once? fucked up and somehow became a medical genius? died? is this your ghost?"

there was a pause, and radio silence, before seungcheol sighed. "how would my ghost talk to you, minghao? by using a ghost phone? god, things go straight through ghosts, they can't hold a cell phone. but you were almost right!! i didn't fuck up, but i am a medical genius! my risky brain surgery worked! the patient is fine, and cancer free!"

minghao sat up immediately, banging his head on the bunk above him and wincing at the pain. "no fucking way, you got it all out? how? did you record it? can you show me the videotapes? oh my god, this is incredible."

when he turned his head slightly, he saw mingyu's ~~disgusting, vile, ugly~~ head leaning over the side of the bunk atop him, glancing between him and the phone with an excited look in his eyes. all the other did was flip him off, returning to the obviously important phone call.

"its all on film, come meet me at jieqiong's station so we can talk about it! i assume she would want to know too, right?" minghao made a mental note to question how the fuck jieqiong and seungcheol became friends, but made a noise of agreement none the less, hanging up the call and dragging himself out of bed.

as soon as minghao was standing and ready to leave, mingyu was right behind him. like a never ending hellish puppy. "where are you going? who's surgery was cool? can i see it too?" were the first questions he heard before he tuned the other out, opening the door and walking towards where he knew his best friend would be sitting.

and there she was, laughing her ass off at him trailing along the new cardio surgeon, who seemed to be a bit more pouty than she had seen before. "and what's he doing here exactly?"

"he wouldn't leave me the fuck alone, so he's here to hear the story too. cheol, explain it."

about halfway through the story, minghao almost fell asleep. he didn't need to hear every single movement of the needle, every time he turned on suction, or every tiny piece of tumor that was picked up. it was almost like he could do the entire surgery himself now, and he wasnt even trained in neuro. when mingyu noticed him yawning, he stomped on the shorter boy's foot, to keep him awake.

"what the fuck was that, mingyu?" the sharp eyes returned to the chinese boy, swiveling immediately towards the other. "my foot didn't do anything to you!"

if there was anything bigger than mingyu's eyes in that moment, minghao would probably owe money to jieqiong. because good lord, was that boy scared to death at the now yelling figure he was standing beside. "i know! i know! i just- i mean- nevermind. i'm sorry." he pouted, looking at the floor as seungcheol resumed his story.

"and that is how i saved miss hong's life." he finally concluded, smug and proud, before he noticed how the nurse beside him was half asleep, and her chinese counterpart was also half asleep on the counter. "hey, my story was interesting! i did all that by myself! a four hour surgery!"

"not to be offensive, but the story was also like four hours long." mingyu groaned, stretching out before scratching his head. "i have patients to check on, anyways. but awesome job man! i'm proud, even if these guys aren't." he smiled his signature smile, and turned towards his ward, a slight skip in his step.

minghao snorted at the other's comment, poking jieqiong's arm to get her to return back to her normal, angry nurse state. "yeah, it was long as fuck. someone's paging me." she muttered, standing up and walking to the nearest patient's room, entering it immediately.

"it was cool, right minghao?"

"sure it was, dipshit. maybe if you didn't tell us every single move of the needle, it would be pretty cool. improve your god damn stories." he muttered walking away, taking light steps on his right foot, a glowering expression on his face. "i'll fucking kill kim mingyu the next time i see him, i swear." he muttered under his breath, sighing and stepping onto the elevator.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seeing as i'm introducing seventeen very slowly into this, i feel bad making you wait so long for each person's division. so here's a list of all of the wards that they work in, in order of age!  
> seungcheol- neuro, jeonghan- obgyn, jisoo- general surgery, junhui- orthopedic, soonyoung- neonatal, wonwoo- trauma, jihoon- neuro, seokmin- plastics, mingyu- cardio, minghao- pediatric, seungkwan- vascular, hansol- general surgery, chan- orthopedic.
> 
> if you want to learn more about each of their careers just google the thing i wrote followed by the word "surgeon" and it should show you some information!!  
> but other than that, i really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! i'm sorry if it's too short, i was struggling with how to extend this one without making the next one too short. (also, i hope you guys like minghao's little squad!!)   
> i'll try to get the next one out as soon as possible!!


	3. the boy under the desk

most of the time, minghao could deal with inconveniences in life with ease. he generally ignored the inconvenience until it went away, and he did the same with people as he did with objects or figurative thoughts, for the most part.

mingyu just would not let himself be ignored.

every single time minghao turned a corner, there was his obnoxiously lanky frame, standing there with that dumb smile painted over his lips. it was always some dumb question that he asked, most of the time turning into absolutely terrible jokes. this time, minghao was ready for whatever came at him as he turned the corner into the cafeteria.

"hey! minghao!" mingyu shouted from right next to the smaller, a bright smile on his face, hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"jesus christ, what the fuck do you want now?"

"how many kids do you think are on earth right now? like, exact numbers!" mingyu followed the other as he walked towards the food stations, a grimace still present on his face.

"too many. does that answer your question? leave me alone." minghao was rushing to grab food, just picking up anything that looked like it could be consumable and throwing it on his plate before paying and leaving the line, hoping to lose mingyu in the chaos.

he sadly didn't.

immediately after he sat down next to jieqiong, the other was sitting right by his side, practically in minghao's lap.

of course, jieqiong stifled a laugh at it, almost choking on her apple slice and having to cough for a good 10 minutes after the fact.

"but that isn't what you're supposed to say! you're a pediatrician and you don't even like kids? how do you do your job? how do you deal with them every day if you don't like them! i don't get it!" mingyu would not stop blabbering, not even pausing to drink water, which he had already opened and was holding in his hand.

jieqiong took this moment to intercept the boy, smirk on her face. "well, you see, hao hao here doesn't hate children. he just doesn't like them today, seeing as he has a stressful parent that's kid has a surgery in like," she paused to look at the time on her phone before glancing back at the duo, "two hours. she's been hounding him all fucking day. it's kind of funny, if you ask me."

"jie jie, could you kindly shut the fuck up? and maybe get him to do so too?" he mumbled, sipping his juice and just now glancing at his food. a soft sigh left his lips, pushing the tray forward and slamming his head on the table.

mingyu managed to capture the glance of xuan yi, who was presently sitting across from them. he gave her a questioning look before pointing at the boy to his left, hoping for some form of an answer.

"oh, him? from what i can tell, it's probably because of what jie jie said, and because he somehow grabbed the only salad there that has tree nuts in it." it was then that jieqiong had to turn around, mouth full of water, to avoid spitting it all over the table because she could not contain her laughter.

minghao just moaned in response, it was basically the only thing he knew how to do in this terrible situation, before sitting back up. "i think it's time, ladies and puppy. i think it has reached the time in my life where i need to seriously consider suicide. where's the nearest cliff? how much potassium is an overdose?"

an eyebrow raised, cheng xiao sat down on the right side of mingyu. "hey, hao? you say that every time you have an annoying patient. i think i'm gonna have to put you in psych soon. they're always asking me how you're doing after your last... outbreak."

"outbreak?"

he sat up, glaring at cheng xiao from across the table. "i really don't think you guys understand the concept of shutting the fu-"

"oh yeah, it was fucking hilarious. he got out of a surgery and told the mother it was a success, and then walked up to my desk, stood on top of it, and yelled "SOMEONE RUN ME OVER WITH A FUCKING SCHOOLBUS! JUST RUN ME OVER MULTIPLE TIMES WITH THAT BIG YELLOW BUS!" and that was as far as he got before i taped his mouth shut and dragged him to psych. they said he had anger issues. as if we didn't already know that one..."

xuan yi laughed, biting into a banana. "it gets me every time. the best part was the kid from 101 who came out and cheered him on, saying "FUCK THE SYSTEM MAN!" for a good ten minutes."

the entire time, mingyu was in deadpan confusion, glancing around the table. "first of all, how did he not get fired? second of all, what are all your real names? or are these real names?" his confusion was quite obvious to them, eyes wider than the moon.

"jesus christ puppy man. meet my friends."

* * *

 

tiny children really made minghao's life a living hell.

for the most part they smelled bad, he really didnt know why, (he assumed it was because half of them refused to shower or wear deodorant. honestly, it was getting to be a serious problem with that kid from 305.) but they always smelled like the inside of a dumpster.

so imagine his discontent when he was stuck with the most disgusting child on the floor, and the mother that would not ever stop asking questions. she just went on and on, asking questions that didn't even relate to his injury, just so that she could "know what was happening with her child."

"so what you're saying you're going to do is take out his appendix, and then he will be okay? are you positive? i mean i know that he has that pain but he has had many stomach aches in the past and-"

"look. i'm going to remove your child's appendix, because he has appendicitis, and then he will be perfectly okay. it's probably the most simple procedure possible. the only reason i'm doing it instead of general surgery is because he's smaller than the typical 13 year old, as you know, so they need a pediatrician to do it. do you understand? do you want to know each step to the surgery, or can i continue rounds?" minghao stated, attempting a positive tone to his voice rather than his typical monotone voice.

"alright! so in an hour you're going to take him to the operating room and you're going to fix the problem by taking out his appendix? what if something happens after surgery? will my child die?" the tone of the woman went up at the end, eyes widening and scaring herself, something he hated about the mothers.

with a sigh, minghao shook his head lightly. "there is little to no risk involved in this surgery. and we keep him for two weeks post operation to monitor the bleeding and bodily functions, and its only 2 weeks because the pediatric wing cannot release any patients before the mandatory 2 weeks. now i must go, i have a lot of people to talk to this morning. if you have any other questions, contact nurse jonghyun." 

minghao had never left a room faster than the one he was speeding out of, rushing to the nurse station and hiding behind the desk. the nurses were used to this, he would hide from parents when he lied and said he had a lot to do, and they would pretend he was in some other room until they walked back into the child's room. normally, no one came to visit with him. he was alone, for the most part, in that short time where he was in hiding like a hostage.

however when he heard chinese from above him, he knew he would have to peak his head out. there was certainly something happening above him, and with that he inched his head out just enough to spot the ashy blonde standing feet away from him, glaring down at the boy's small frame. "get up you asshole, it's too early for you to be doing this shit." muttered the man, kicking minghao's shin aggressively.

"hey hey hey. if you knew the mom, you would be hiding too." there was a snicker from his other side as he rose, sending a glare towards whoever was laughing at his misfortunes. "and either way, you do the exact same thing. one time you hid so long you almost slept through a surgery, or do you not remember that whole incident?"

junhui coughed loudly, adjusting his collar to avoid confrontation. "anyways, dickbag, there's a party tonight at the bar across town to celebrate the new recruits. you're coming, right?"

"i'd do anything for a beer right now, so yes, i will be in attendance.

and with that, minghao had dedicated his entire night to his own personal version of hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gosh, i'm so sorry for such a long wait for such a short chapter! i just didn't want to try to shove the party in here, if you get it? i'm gonna try to get the next chapter out within the weekend/week, but please bare with me!! junior year has been a bit of a struggle, honestly.
> 
> thanks so much for reading!!!


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